How to Secure Your Phone for a Protest

By
PC Mag ME TeamJan. 23, 2017, 11:30 a.m.

Heading to a protest soon? Here's how to make sure your whereabouts are not tracked.

The past few years have seen a resurgence in activism and protesting, and the controversial presence of a new president means protesting is likely to become even more commonplace. When you take the streets to demonstrate your beliefs, it's important to know your rights, but it's also important to take steps to secure your phone from theft, loss, and, of course, surveillance.

The Bad News

The options for crowd surveillance are numerous. Controversial devices called Stingrays have been used by local and federal law enforcement. These devices can trick your cell phone into connecting with it, instead of a cell tower, and intercept information without you necessarily realizing it. They can also extract identifying information from your phone and track your movements.

Intercepting individual messages from hundreds of thousands of people is doable, but it's not particularly easy and doesn't really make sense given the circumstances. If an authoritarian government were monitoring a massive protest, the goal would likely be intelligence gathering for future investigation. Observers would want to know who is at the event, who are they with, and what information can be extracted to monitor them later.

That said, a far easier method to figure out if someone attended a protest would simply by looking at their Facebook or Twitter pages, rather than placing these kind of resources in the field.

The Stingray and other devices can also block service to everyone within a particular area. In some scenarios, this is done in order to force phones to connect via less secure means (2G, whose encryption scheme has been broken, instead of LTE), but preventing people from communicating is often enough.

On the Wi-Fi end of things, specially designed devices can trick your phone into connecting by posing as a friendly Wi-Fi network and your phone, trying to be helpful, may automatically connect. While Stingray (and their hacker equivalents, Femtocells) devices are tricky pieces of equipment, a Wi-Fi network spoofing device is actually pretty easy to obtain and set up. Heck, I have two such devices sitting next to me (for entirely legal reasons).

Intelligence agencies may use Wi-Fi attacks like this, but given how easy these devices are to set up and how many out-of-towners will be in the area, coupled with the fact that cell service is going to be bad, it's a great opportunity for criminals to target easy prey. No matter how tempting, do not connect to Wi-Fi at or near the event, and I highly recommend turning off your Wi-Fi radio while in the general vicinity.

There is also facial-recognition software to be concerned about, but to be honest, this is one of those things that I have kind of accepted.

Lastly, there are X-ray vans. They do exactly what you think: they scan people as they walk by. The Atlantic reported on this kind of equipment last year. I don't know if it will be in the field at the inauguration, but it's just a reminder that there's more than one kind of surveillance.

Tools of the Trade

While the tools of the surveillance state and the criminally minded are many and manifold, there's a simple way to defeat many of them: turn off your phone. While we tend to marvel at how cell phones send signals to satellites, phones actually rely on terrestrial antennas that can be overwhelmed when lots of people cram into a relatively small area. At many major events, wireless providers will often bring in mobile cellular infrastructure to try and serve the throngs. I experienced this firsthand at President Obama's inauguration in 2009, where despite the additional antennas, my phone was effectively useless.

With that in mind, the best way to keep from being observed is to simply never be on the grid in the first place. Turn off your phone when you head toward the march, and leave it off until you're headed home. Make arrangements in advance with your friends and visitors to meet at easily found locations that require little knowledge of the area. Print out maps of where you intend to be, since data may end up being a scarce commodity even after the protest begins to disperse.

And although everyone is always concerned about Big Brother, remember that loss and theft are often the biggest threat to cell phones. Always lock your phone with a secure passcode (that means more than just four digits!), and consider enabling fingerprint unlocking on your phone if it's supported. While police may be able to compel you to use your fingerprint to unlock a phone, it will stymie a would-be crook who stumbles across your device. Also consider activating the Find My iPhone or Android Device Manager features. While they won't work when your phone is turned off, they are nonetheless the best tools against phone theft.

When I tell people that their best defense is just to switch off their phones, they always seem disappointed. But it's true. However, if you're concerned about surveillance you should start thinking long term. Start using encrypted services today to protect yourself from attackers and spies of all stripes.

First and foremost, encrypt your communications. The excellent Signal app for Android and iPhone lets you send encrypted messages to other Signal users. The app and its protocol are open source, so you can trust that it has been carefully examined for potential flaws, and have been endorsed by many security experts. The app looks and works just like your existing messaging client, and on Android can actually serve as a full-on SMS client replacement. You can also use it to make encrypted VoIP calls. For more, check out PCMag's roundup of Signal tips.

Messages sent through WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger's "Secret Conversations" mode (below) use the same Signal technology. You may have an easier time staying in touch using these, since they are far more popular than apps like Signal. I recommend against using mesh messaging services like FireChat, partly because I haven't been impressed with their performance but also because you never know who might be listening.

Also, the iPhone uses end-to-end encryption when sending messages between you and other iPhone users. So, whenever you see the blue bubble around text, you can rest assured that if the message is intercepted it cannot be read. Apple has done a great job securing its mobile devices, to the point that the FBI and US intelligence agencies have complained that it is too powerful. The stuff you've heard about the San Bernardino shooter's phone being cracked is separate from this. Everything I have seen for the last decade or so indicates that the Apple's iPhone-to-iPhone messaging is excellent.

Keep in mind that this isn't true if you're messaging a non-iPhone user (the green message bubble people) and that iMessages can be sent as SMS when service is spotty (navigate to Settings > Messages > Send as SMS on iPhone to customize).

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It's also worth investing in a good VPN service, especially if you are traveling for a protest and plan on using hotel Wi-Fi during your trip. Using a VPN secures your Web traffic from anyone snooping on the network you're using, and can disguise your IP address as well as your true location when using the Web. PCMag's Editors' Choice winner KeepSolid Unlimited VPN has a very flexible pricing structure, offering one-week Vacation plans for as little as $1.99.

If you do decide to use some of these secure services, excellent! You're taking the first steps to ensuring that your life is a little more controlled and safer. But be sure that before you set foot in the streets with a placcard that you've tried out the tools for a few days and actually understand how they work and how to use them. The only thing worse than not be being safe, is incorrectly thinking you are.

So what's the big takeaway from all of this? Stay smart, and plan ahead. Know where you're going to go, make plans and try to stick to them. Assume that you won't have cell access and switch your phone off if you are very concerned. Always be wary of Wi-Fi networks, but not just because of Big Brother. A VPN is a handy tool in these situations. Keep your head, and remember that securing your privacy is one of the rights you're marching for.